


What Really Matters

by victorfrankenwhale



Series: Mad Whale is Best [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Brother Feels, Family Feels, Gay Victor Frankenstein | Dr. Whale, Gen, Gerhardt Frankenstein in Storybrooke, Gerhardt Ships Mad Whale, Grace Ships Mad Whale, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Mad Whale Family, Step-Dad Victor, Supportive Gerhardt, Victor and Gerhardt just love each other so much, Written after 6x02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-19 11:32:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8204705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victorfrankenwhale/pseuds/victorfrankenwhale
Summary: Gerhardt ends up in Storybrooke, and Victor has to introduce him to his new family.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The show will never give me Frankenbros + Mad Whale family, so I'll make it myself -_-
> 
> If I was better at drawing, I'd love to draw the cute little family all together.
> 
> This was originally written right after 6x02, so any inconsistencies with later episodes are because of that.

When Mr. Hyde brought all of the people from The Land of Untold Stories into Storybrooke, the town was overrun by strange characters. People who had originated from all different lands, who had escaped their fated stories because they didn’t like how they were to end.

Some people, however, were familiar to residents of the town. One of these people was Gerhardt Frankenstein, beloved younger brother of Dr. Whale, aka Victor Frankenstein. Victor had almost given up all hope of seeing Gerhardt again, so he was shocked but overjoyed when he saw his brother being brought into the hospital.

Of course, he was also worried. Gerhardt was found unconscious and was incredibly lucky to be found at all. Fortunately, there had been nothing that much wrong with him, other than the obvious unconsciousness and the fact that he was dehydrated.

The nurses could've sworn they saw Victor tear up a little when he realised that Gerhardt was going to be perfectly fine. They decided not to say anything, however, not wanting to embarrass him in such an emotional moment. Besides, it was nice to see a man who loved his brother so much.

Gerhardt slept for a few hours, and Victor's co-workers had been kind enough to let him have some time off to watch over his brother, and help him get settled in once he woke up. 

Eventually, Gerhardt’s eyes fluttered open and he made a small noise, most likely confused as to where he was. From his chair next to the bed, Victor stood up, quickly making his way to Gerhardt's bedside. 

“Gerhardt?” Victor said softly, not wanting to startle Gerhardt. He couldn’t help but wonder if Gerhardt was going to be as he was before the curse hit – confused and aggressive. The thought of that made Victor’s heart hurt. Now that his brother was here with him, he didn’t want to lose him again.

“V…Victor?” Gerhardt replied as he quickly sat up in the bed, looking up at his older brother. His eyes seemed trained on a particular feature of Victor, however. “Your hair…”

Victor smiled widely - he wasn't tearing up again, no way - running his hand through the bleached blond strands. Just a reminder of a particularly bad decision that he made. “Never mind that, brother. You’re here…”

The doctor pulled Gerhardt into a tight hug, happy to see his brother after so long. Gerhardt was shocked for a moment, but eventually he returned the hug. So far, Gerhardt seemed to be back to normal, but Victor was slightly concerned that he could revert back to how he was before.

“Where am I?” Gerhardt asked, after the hug had ended. He looked around the hospital room, a confused expression on his face. “Why is everything so… bright?”

“This is the hospital in a town called Storybrooke. This is where I work.”

“…?” Gerhardt looked confused, and Victor couldn’t blame him. It was a lot to take in.

“How did you get to The Land of Untold Stories, brother? How did you recover?”

“I…I don’t know. The last thing I remember clearly is finding you in the graveyard… then I only remember small pieces.” Gerhardt frowned, trying to figure out his memories. Victor could tell that he was trying to help, but he was having some trouble. “Papa dying, being in the tower… then after that… just so many colours.”

“It’s okay, Gerhardt. We have plenty of time to figure everything out.” Victor explained, grinning. Though Gerhardt remembered nothing about his recovery, did it really matter how Gerhardt got to Storybrooke? Wasn’t the fact he was with his brother, where he belonged, the only thing that really mattered? “After we give you a little check-up - as long as you’re okay - you can come home with me, alright? We definitely have a spare room you can stay in.”

Gerhardt nodded. “ _We_? Do you have a wife?” he asked, still looking confused.

“Uh, no.”

“Who do you live with, then?”

“I’ll, uh… explain to you when we get there.”

* * *

 Gerhardt had his check-up, and luckily, everything was fine. It was a miracle how well he had recovered. He still had some scars from the many procedures Victor had performed on him, and the problems with his memories, but otherwise, he seemed perfectly fine. Someone must have been there to take care of him in The Land of Untold Stories.

After a small explanation of what a car was, Victor and Gerhardt made their way to Victor's home. Though he was happy to see his brother again, he was a little nervous. While the two brothers had always been close, there was one thing that Victor had never told Gerhardt about.

Victor was gay. He’d known from a very young age that he was interested in boys instead of girls, but he didn’t realise that it was considered 'bad' until he got older. The land his family hailed from, The Land without Colour, wasn’t accepting of homosexuality, and it was in fact, illegal. His father, Alphonse, was the only person who ever knew, and it soured his view of his already least-favourite child. Sure, Alphonse hid the fact from everyone, but the action wasn’t to be mistaken as an expression of kindness towards Victor. All he wanted was to protect himself from the shame of having a gay son.

Now Gerhardt was going to have to find out. There was no way for Victor to hide anymore. He only hoped that Gerhardt was kinder than their father in this aspect, too.

Victor opened the door, walking inside. Gerhardt spotted a young girl, about thirteen-years old with long, dark blonde hair, sitting down while staring at something on the wall. When she heard the door open, she looked up at Victor with a grin.

“Hi, Victor!” The girl stood up and ran over to the door, immediately wrapping Victor into a tight hug. Afterwards, she looked up towards Gerhardt and her head tilted sideways. “Who’s this?”

“Grace, this is Gerhardt, my younger brother.” Victor said.

“I thought your brother, um… died?” Grace looked a little nervous, and she was clearly trying to be delicate about the whole situation, as to not offend Gerhardt. “And you brought him back again but it didn’t work?”

“Well, it seems a better doctor than I helped him out in The Land of Untold Stories.”

“You get to have your brother back? That’s great!” Satisfied with Victor’s explanation, Grace grinned and held out her hand to Gerhardt, who after a second of confusion, shook it. “Nice to meet you, Uncle Gerhardt! My name’s Grace.”

“Uncle?” Gerhardt looked to his brother, waiting for him to say something.

“Yes, uh, Grace is my step-daughter.” Victor said awkwardly.

“Wait, I’ll be back in a second!” Grace ran off and up the stairs before Victor could even say anything. This day was just getting more and more confusing for poor Gerhardt. He only hoped that he would be able to get used to so many surprises.

Victor sighed. “Come on, Gerhardt. You should come and sit down. Are you still feeling okay?”

“I feel fine.” Gerhardt followed his brother over to the couch, and sat down next to him, but it seemed as if something was on his mind. “Grace is… nice. But I still don’t understand. I thought you said you didn’t have a wife, but you have a step-daughter?”

Victor opened his mouth to stutter out an explanation, but didn’t have a chance.

“Hey, Vic, you’re home.” Both Frankenstein brothers looked over to the doorway to a man standing there with Grace. He walked towards the couch, leaning over so he could kiss Victor on the forehead. After that, he walked around to the other side of the couch and looked at Gerhardt with a raised eyebrow. “Huh, Grace told me Gerhardt was here… I didn’t think it was possible.”

“Gerhardt, this is Jefferson.”

Gerhardt looked between Victor and the man who had just kissed him on the forehead; Jefferson. Sure, he wasn’t as smart as his brother, but it didn’t take him long to connect the dots. “Are you two… together?”

“Yes.” Victor nodded. He was nervous. He didn’t know what he’d do if Gerhardt didn’t accept him now. “Is... that okay with you?”

Jefferson looked at Victor, waiting for Gerhardt's answer. He hated seeing that kind of fear in Victor's eyes.

“Are you happy?” Gerhardt asked.

“Incredibly.” Victor’s cheeks tinted red slightly.

“And so I am happy too. All I ever wanted for you was to be happy, Victor.” Gerhardt said, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder. Victor looked so relieved, and Jefferson couldn’t help but think how sweet this whole scene was. “So, I suppose you’re not married. Or are you? This land is much different to our home, so I can’t be sure if that’s possible…”

“It is possible, but no, we’re not married.” Victor said.

“Yet!” Grace giggled, now standing next to her father in front of the couch.

“We’ve talked about it before, so I guess we’re officially engaged. Once the Charmings have sorted out this whole Mr. Hyde and the Evil Queen situation, maybe we can finally get it done.” Jefferson smirked, looking at Victor. Between Victor’s shifts at the hospital and constant issues with the town itself, they’d never found the time to plan the event. “What do you think? Gerhardt can be the best man. It’ll be great.”

Gerhardt looked at Victor with hope in his eyes, and the older brother smiled. “Yeah, yeah.”

Jefferson laughed and sat down next to Victor, putting his arm around the other’s shoulders. Grace took the spot next to her father. “So, how did you end up here? Victor said you were in his land the last time he saw you.”

“I’m afraid I don’t remember, but everything is okay, since I get to see my brother again.” Gerhardt said, “And I also get to meet the new members of our family.”

“Well, I’m glad to finally meet you properly, Gerhardt. I mean, I technically saw you back in your land, but you were kind of… dead.”

“Jefferson!” Victor looked at Jefferson with a frown.

Gerhardt smiled. Jefferson seemed to be the kind of person who always said what he meant. “It’s okay, Victor.”

“Is Uncle Gerhardt going to live here with us, Victor?” Grace asked.

“Well, if it’s okay with Jefferson…” Victor looked towards Jefferson, waiting for his answer.

“Of course he can live here. It’s a big house, and he's family.”

“Thank you very much.” Gerhardt said. “I have a few questions, Victor. You never told me what happened to your hair.”

“Let’s just say your big brother makes some questionable decisions when he’s drunk.” Jefferson laughed, and Victor looked embarrassed. Gerhardt laughed a little, before moving on to his next questions.

“Also, what is that?” Gerhardt pointed at the still turned on TV, the superhero cartoon Grace was watching continuing to play.

“That might take a little longer to explain...”

**Author's Note:**

> Grace is probably working up to calling Victor 'dad' one of these days.
> 
> As always, I hope this all made sense, and if you have any prompts, please send them to me on Tumblr! My url is bleachblondfrankenstein :)


End file.
